The adjective cute comes from the Latin word limpĭdus , which can be translated as “pure” or “clean.” The term is used to describe someone or something that stands out for its beauty .
For example: “This province has very beautiful landscapes and an ideal climate for walking outdoors” , “What a cute baby! “Is he your son?” , “For my birthday, my husband gave me a beautiful red dress that I wore at my cousin's wedding.”
Generally the idea of cute is used with reference to beauty . Cuteness falls within the aesthetic canons of a society and is considered pleasing to the eye.
A car can be called cute because of its design , for example. A beach with turquoise waters and white sand, meanwhile, is beautiful for its natural appeal .
In the case of people, the qualification varies depending on the culture and time. Models who star in advertising campaigns and movie stars are usually defined as cute.
In colloquial language , on the other hand, the notion of cute allows us to accentuate the intensity or importance of something : “You've given me a nice scare! Where were you?” , “My grandfather fell in the street and got a nice blow,” “When I moved the furniture, I made a nice scratch on the wall.”
Although the term "cute" is understood in any Spanish-speaking part of the world, not everyone uses it, or at least not in the same sense. On the other hand, there are several synonyms that we can use to replace it, such as the following: "beautiful, pretty, precious, beautiful, graceful, nice, handsome" and " exquisite ." Its antonyms are also many, but we can highlight "ugly, unpleasant, bland, coarse" and "dreadful."
It is important to explain that this adjective does not have considerable force when it comes to highlighting the beauty or some pleasant aspect of the noun it modifies, but rather it seems to express the lowest degree of admiration possible. This may vary depending on the person who uses it and the presence or absence of other words that enhance it; However, it is usually the adjective we use when we do not want to commit too much to our appreciation or used by people who are not easily impressed.
Let's see this in context to better understand the limitations of this adjective when expressing an opinion . Let's imagine that after a spectacular opera recital, one of the people in the audience approaches the soprano and says "The repertoire is very nice"; If it were a series of extremely vocally demanding arias, which centuries ago had been written for the most gifted voices of the time, this assessment would be poor and lacking in sensitivity. Instead, it would be much more natural to say to the singer, “Oh my God! I have never heard a voice like yours, and the repertoire is simply dazzling.
If we take some of the synonyms presented above, we can put together a small list, ordering them hierarchically, according to their degree of expressiveness. At the base we have "cute, pretty" and "beautiful"; Although we could add more, these seem to be the most "conservative" adjectives, so to speak, that we can choose when it comes to positively qualifying some aesthetic aspect of someone or something. In second place are "beautiful" and "precious", with much greater emphasis. Above all is "exquisite", as well as the superlatives of some of the previous ones, such as being "very beautiful", "very precious" and, why not?, "very pretty".
Lindo , finally, is a fairly common surname in Spanish-speaking countries . The Honduran politician Juan Lindo , the Spanish writer and journalist Elvira Lindo , the Salvadoran author Hugo Lindo , the Peruvian actress Jimena Lindo and the Nicaraguan activist Matilde Lindo are personalities who share this surname.